Cain

"Relax, she likes you already," I assured Iris. She gave me a disbelieving look and I took her hand from underneath the table. We'd been waiting for Queen and my brother for almost twenty minutes because Iris wanted to be early. If she had listened to me, she wouldn't be here stressing, we would've arrived and they would've been too busy paying the bill to make conversation.

"Did she TELL you that?"

"Well no," I grimaced.

"Fuck," she groaned.

"Why are you so worried?"

"Because your sister is best friends with Mia. She can't like that you're with me instead of her," she admitted.

"My sister only cares that I'm happy," I said sincerely, as I busied myself looking at the menu. "The two of you will get to know each other on the trip and she'll love you, I promise."

"How can you promise that?"

"Because it's pretty hard not to love you," I mumbled. I only noticed what I truly said when I looked at her and saw a smirk on her face. "For other people not to love you—not me...I don't."

"Right," she said slowly as a smile appeared on her face.

After all of my countless mistakes, I was sure Iris knew I loved her, I just didn't know how to just tell her. I wanted to wait until I was sure how she felt. I knew she liked me, but she was a hard person to read.

I was getting ready to change the subject when the door jingled and I looked up to see my brother and sister. They were laughing about something and when they saw us, they walked in our direction. "Hey," Abel said as he slid into the booth across us.

"Hey," I replied. I was excited that he and I would get to know each other better on the trip, but there was still quite a lot of attention because of Mia. She was no longer an issue, but I'm sure if he found out what I did he'd hate me.

Instead of directly sitting down, Queen ruffled my hair and then threw her arms around Iris. "Hi!" She squealed excitedly as she tiny little jumps. Iris seemed tense at first but when she noticed Queen's love for hugs, she loosened up and laughed.

"I'm so excited!" Queen cheered as she moved to sit beside Abel. I wondered just how excited she truly was though. I knew she wanted to travel, but hours ago she was crying on the phone with me over Syn. "Are you guys coming?" She asked hopefully.

I looked at Iris to tell Queen the news, and she turned to Queen and nodded. "We're coming."

"Ahhhhh, this is going to be amazing!" She beamed. "Is your grandfather coming?"

"Yes, is that's okay?"

"Of course," Queen said. "Cain has told me a lot about him and I can't wait to meet him." Iris smiled in my direction and I kissed her on the hand. "Well, the flight is tomorrow. So maybe after dinner, we can talk about the medical steps we need to take for him?"

"I'd appreciate that," Iris spoke.

Queen smiled at her and I cleared my throat. "Abel you're going, correct?"

"If that's alright with everyone..." he said as he looked around the table.

"It won't interfere with your job?"

"No, I can work from wherever I am. I'll just need to fly back from time to time for court."

"Sounds good." I nodded. I didn't know Iris and Queen were watching out interaction until we were done and I cringed in my spot. We were brothers, and we were speaking like business partners.

Everyone started engaging in a random conversation about the places we'd go after France, and I was surprised to see Iris so social. She was a lot quieter around people she didn't know well, so it was nice to see that she was comfortable around them.

My phone rang in my pocket and I muttered an apology before pulling it out and looking at the screen. I saw Syn's name flashing around the screen and I looked around the table. "I need to take a call, I'll be right back." Iris gave me a suspicious look but stepped out of the booth to let me out.

I walked outside of the restaurant and answered the phone. "What's up?"

"Cleo is going to the police for Mia," he said calmly.

"What the hell? Why?"

"Apparently Mia had to go to a hospital and Cleo was supposed to receive a call from them. She's gotten nothing and she's worried," he said.

"Fuck, I didn't think anyone was still friends with her," I sighed.

"Hmm," Syn hummed. "I can handle it for you."

"What do you mean?"

"I can just handle it. You're going on your trip, right?" He asked.

"Yes..."

"I can pull a few strings," he said. "I'm going to need you to do something for me though."

"What?"

"Take care of Queen," he said.

"Of course," I replied.

"Is she still alive, Cain?"

"Mia?"

"Yes."

"No, she's dead."

"I need you to tell me where her body is," he said.

"What are you going to do?"

"We have a friend that requires a body, and you are trying to stay out of prison. That's all that needs to be known."

"You're going to put Dimitri into Mia's body?!"

"Think about it," he said. "If Mia is gone, Vitus will wage war with us and I'm sure if Iris finds out, she'll be pissed."

"Fuck," I seethed slowly. All I wanted was to protect my sister and Iris.  I didn't think about anything else. "Okay, I'll send you the location. Be discreet, Syn."

"I always am." He hung up the phone and I turned around to head into the restaurant but saw Iris behind me. My eyes widened at the shocked expression on her face and my heart stopped beating. How much did she hear?

"Iris..." I said slowly as I walked towards her.

She took a small step back and held her hand up. "Did you kill her?"

"Technically no," I said wearily. "But I did send out the order."

"After I asked you to let it go?"

I grimaced and closed my eyes to think about my options. I could lie and tell her that it was before...but then she'd ask why I didn't tell her. The only way out of this was the truth, and I was sure it still wouldn't end well. "Yes."

She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded slowly as she looked around. "Iris I-"

"Don't," she said simply as she looked back up at me. "I refuse to cause a scene in front of your sibling. So we're going to go back in there and leaving what just happened out here. When we go home, we'll talk."

"Okay," I answered. I wanted to talk about it as soon as possible, but a part of me was glad that she'd have a little bit of time to calm down. From the way she was looking at me, it was possible that I could enter the morning a single man.

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"Okay, so let's all meet at Abel's place around six p.m. tomorrow?" Queen asked as we all walked to our cars.

"Sounds good," I said. Iris remained quiet, so I had no idea if she was still planning on coming or not. We all stopped walking in the middle of the lot to say our goodbyes and Queen and Iris hugged while I nodded at my brother.

"Bye guys," Queen waved as they walked away.

Iris waved back with a smile, and when they were out of our eyesight, she began walking towards the car. "Iris," I said as I followed after her.

"What is it, Cain?" She questioned softly as she reached the car and walked to the passenger door. Instead of going to the driver's side, I followed her to her side as she opened the door.

"Can we talk?"

She sat down on the set with her legs still outside and shrugged as she looked up at me. "What is there to talk about?"

"What I did, what you heard..."

"I tried talking to you before and you did the opposite of what we agreed on."

"What we agreed on?" I asked. "You mean what you told me to do?"

"Well, it seemed like you gave in after we discussed it though. I thought we were on the same page. If you were so hellbent on doing it despite me not wanting to, you should've spoken up more, Cain. You can't do things behind my back."

"I know, okay?" I said sincerely. "And I'm sorry that I tried to keep it from you, but I'm not sorry that I did it."

"Why did you do it?"

"To protect you."

"You keep saying that, but I'm fine," she pointed out in an exasperated tone.

"Fuck, Iris," I snapped as I stood back up. I didn't know what to say to her or how to say it and I was getting overwhelmed. I ran my hand through my hair and walked away from the car.

"Fuck what, Cain?" she asked as she got out of the car. "Are you seriously walking away from me right now?"

"You won't listen to me, Iris," I said as I faced her again. "No matter what I say, you'll just believe that I killed her because I loved her or some dumb shit like that."

She looked around before sighing and looking back up at me. "Walking away from me only makes me think that I have a point. We're supposed to talk shit through, even if it's uncomfortable. If you're going to leave now then don't bother coming back. I'm not going to be in a relationship where my man leaves me because he's 'stressed' out. That hurts, Cain."

"I'm not trying to hurt you," I said softly.

"Then get in the car so we can talk."

I nodded slowly and began walking to the driver's side door while she got back into her side. When we were both inside with the doors shut, she turned to me and waited for me to say something.

"It felt like the right thing to do, Iris." I swung my head in her direction to see her listening intently and I felt more comfortable telling her what was on my mind. "You're not the first person Mia hurt. She killed my sister in the past, and she kidnapped her to torture her. I let it go because my sister did, and everyone told me about how she changed so I believed it. Seeing what she did to you and how she acted afterward made me realized that she'll never change.

Mia was my friend for years and yeah, I did love her. Did you think I'd want to kill her?" I questioned. She shook her head slowly and I took a deep breath. "There was no other choice. She was going to come back, and if she saw us together, she would've hurt you or your grandfather. That's not something I was willing to accept."

She nodded slowly and I looked at her for her to go. "Your turn," I said.

"I just don't like secrets, Cain," she said. "Already finding out that you were in love with her right before we dated made me insecure enough. But then it felt like you had some obsession with her AFTER we got together. Then tonight, I find out you kept this from me."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"I mean your explanation makes things a lot clearer, but that's where my mind was," she said. I reached out my hand between us and she hesitantly laid hers in mine.

"I'll never keep another secret from you again," I said. "I should've talked to you and in the future, I'll do that. I promise."

"Well, what makes you sure I'm not breaking up with you right now?"

My heart twisted up in my chest and my smile dropped from my face. "Are you?"

"No," she shrugged. "But it's always possible. I won't forgive something like this again. You've reached my boundary when it comes to secrets."

"Understandable," I said. "But I hope your boundary is not completely reached because I do have one more big secret."

"Oh fuck," she groaned as she removed her hand from mine. "What is it now?"

"I love you."

"That's not a secret, but aww," she said. She reached out to kiss me, but I held a hand over her lips and raised a brow.

"Aww? I'd rather you tell me you don't love me yet than to say that," I said.

She said something that went muffled into my hand, but when I pulled it away, she grinned at me. "I've been thinking 'or something' was I love you."

"It is."

"So you know that I don't NOT love you."

"But I want to hear you say it," I said seriously. "Only if you mean it though. If you don't that would kind of hurt more than you, not s—"

"I love you too, weirdo."

"Aww!"

"You're annoying," she laughed. We held hands and sat in a comfortable silence, until something I was thinking about came into kind again.

"I have something to ask you," I said. I dreaded even having this conversation with her, but it needed to happen now rather than later.

"What?"

"What are your thoughts on being immortal?"

"Umm, I've told you I don't want to be a vamp—"

"Not a vampire," I said.

"Then what? I can't change into a fairy or anything else."

I looked out of the window and took a deep breath before looking back at her. "Do you love me enough to share my curse with me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, God wasn't COMPLETELY heartless with me," I said. "I can share the curse that I have, with someone else."

"What exactly is the curse?"

"Well...immortality," he shrugged. "Except, I'm just human forever. I can't die no matter what. Is that something you would do for me?" This wasn't something anyone truly wanted, so that was probably why God gave me the sliver of mercy to be able to share it with someone. He knew that no one would willingly—

"Yes," she answered.

"What?"

"I'll be cursed with you."

"Iris it's not a good thing and I'm being selfish by asking you to do it, you know?" I asked. "All other creatures can die of SOMETHING. Even if you get to the point where you want to die, you can't."

"I know," she nodded. "I'll do it."

"Why?"

"Why did you ask me to do it?"

"Because I want to be with you forever."

"So do I," she smiled. I didn't know whether I expected her to agree or disagree with me but hearing her say it brought a level of happiness to me that I had never experienced before.  I tried to hold back a smile and held two fingers up between the both of us.

"So are we right here?" I asked as I moved it between us. When she noticed what I was doing, she laughed and nodded.

"We're right here."

"You're with me?"

"I'm with you," she whispered.

"One hundred percent?" I asked with a smile.

"One fucking million percent."

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Author's Note

Aww, who else thought Iris would for sure leave him?😭
Lmk your thoughts ✨